No matter what business you are in, or whether you are a new or experienced real estate agent, one of the first things you need to consider is…..Who are you marketing to??? It may sound obvious to some, but so often it is forgotten. If you can nail exactly who your target audience is, you can receive more value from any money you spend on marketing in any form, newspapers, magazines, online ads, etc…
Do you know who your target audience is? Most likely they are looking to buy or sell their home or some kind of commercial space, but can you be more specific? Are they looking to move to a new town? What is their income? What do they read? How old are they? What are they looking for when they search for a Realtor online? They are looking for someone they can trust. Someone who knows about the area they want to buy in, or knows about the Real Estate market. Someone who is successful at selling Real Estate! Online, success is conveyed through a modern up to date website, which is why it is just not enough anymore to have just a website. That website needs to be AWESOME! More than 50% of the population who uses the internet, does it via mobile. What happens if they can’t see your Realtor website properly on a phone? They move on to the next real estate website that ranks higher on Google. Learn more about Why Your Outdated Website is pushing Clients Away.
Speaking from experience, I was recently floating down the river in town, and floated right by a house for sale. I’ve been looking for a place to purchase on the water so of course I pull out my phone and check out the website listed on the For Sale sign. I’m sure the Realtor who had it listed is a great person but unfortunately her website did not display properly on my phone and I had a really hard time reading it. I couldn’t easily find the information I was looking for, so what did I do? I searched for the house in Google, and used the first website that showed up, to get more information on this house. From there I could find what I was looking for and contact the agent for a viewing right there! Not everyone can spend half a day floating down a river to look for a house but every time a potential buyer drives past a listing with your name on it, that’s an opportunity to make a connection. Most people will check out your website before they call you. Is your website generating you new leads or driving people away? (No pun intended)
1. Stay away from Real Estate website templates.
They may be cheap up front but you definitely pay more for it in the long run. Your website is the investment and foundation to anything else you do online to promote yourself or your brand. You get what you pay for. You want people to visit your Realtor Website, spend time on your site, and then return to your site. Don’t be afraid to spend the money it takes to get the results you are looking for. Your audience is not a fan of these cheap websites and neither is Google. If you are going to go through the effort of having a website, you might as well make it worthwhile. Here are 5 Reasons Why You Should Never Build Your Own Website.
2. Email Marketing
Ok so, you have potential buyers or sellers visiting your website. You have already got them there. Now what? If you want them to remember you, capture your audience with a Newsletter Subscription. Email marketing has made a ‘Come Back’ in a big way! People are happy to receive information important to them. You make this convenient by sending them updates on the events, developments, or real estate market in your area. This is information they would already be searching for anyways – PLUS now they start to see you as an expert Realtor. When they are eventually ready to buy or sell, it’s a No Brainer.
3. Blogging
Having a Real Estate Blog is a useful tool to support your email marketing, Google Ranking, and Social Media content. A blog shows that you are current and up to date. Google loves it when websites update frequently. It is also an opportunity to embed keywords that you would want to appear in the Google search results. Writing an effective Blog requires work and can be very time consuming if you want to see the results. You need to research what your buyer and seller population are searching for. There is a big difference if you use a title such as ‘FAQs’ oppose to ‘FAQs about the Real Estate market in Barrie’. I’m not saying either of these titles are effective right now, because I have not done the research to support these titles. However, I can say that FAQs is way too broad of a Title to rank for anything to do with Real Estate. If your target audience sees that you consistently update your website they will want to come back.
Blogs provide you with a good foundation, to base your Newsletters, that you send to your buyers or sellers list. If you embed a link to your website in your Newsletter it should take them to a Blog that is relevant to the information they just read. Your blog proves that you are a resourceful, up to date Realtor and you can also share links to your Blogs across all your Social Media platforms. Find out more How Blogs Build Better Businesses.
4. Social Media.
The main purpose of Social Media is to interact and engage with your buyer and seller market. The platform you decide to focus on will depend on the age of your clientele and what activities they like to do. The more people see your name, the more they become familiar with you, and the more they trust you. Post content that is relevant to you as a Realtor and supports your Realtor website. Use this opportunity to share your Blogs. I’m going to use that word ‘legit’ again. If your buyers and sellers are finding you on Social Media that is Fantastic! However like every other avenue of initial contact, their next move is to check out your website to make sure you’re ‘legit’.
5. Networking Offline.
As much as we preach and practice online marketing, there will ALWAYS be a place for face to face contact. Word of mouth is one of the most effective forms of marketing. People trust people they know. When you meet someone for the first time you give an initial impression. If they like that first impression, the next thing they do, is check out the website you have printed on the business card you just handed them. They want to know if you are ‘legit’. Make sure when they are doing their homework that it takes them to a website that represents you.